US car thieves track down a BMW with Apple AirTag

A US family has warned motorists to take precautions if they find an unknown Apple AirTag in their vehicle – or get an alert on their phone warning that a stranger's AirTag is maintaining a close proximity – after thieves allegedly used the tracking device to locate their recently-purchased used-car – and then steal it and flee to Canada.

As reported by US news channel Fox 12, Oregon resident Casey Livingston said he was driving home after buying a used BMW 3 Series from a local dealership when he and his wife received alerts on their Apple iPhones, telling them an unknown AirTag was consistently nearby.

Launched last year, the AirTag is a tracking device which allows Apple customers to locate items such as keys, wallets and other personal belongings.

When the Livingstones arrived home, they found the tracking device buried in the BMW’s centre console. Although concerned, they did not disable or discard the device.

The car was reportedly blocked in on the family’s driveway for the first night of ownership, however it was exposed without protection the next evening, resulting in thieves locating and stealing the BMW about 2am.

According to an interview with Fox 12, Mr Livingston said they were given just one set of keys for the car when it was purchased from the dealership.

“From the video we have from our neighbours, we were able to see they (the thieves) pulled up, unlocked the car, got in it and just drove away.”

The BMW was later found north of the border in Vancouver, Canada, where it had been involved in a hit-and-run incident, writing-off the car while the criminals fled the scene.

Fox 12 reports the dealership had purchased the BMW from an auction, where the staff member who had performed the vehicle check did not own an iPhone.

Android smartphones can only locate AirTags if they have Apple’s ‘Tracker Detect’ app installed.

Last year, a Canadian police department claimed AirTags and other similar tracking devices were being used by criminals to track luxury cars, targeting the vehicles when they were in vulnerable places such as driveways in urban areas.

“Suspects have placed small tracking devices on high-end vehicles so they can later locate and steal them,” York Regional Police said in a media statement.

“Brand name ‘air tags’ are placed in out-of-sight areas of the target vehicles [within the tow bar or inside fuel flaps] when they are parked in public places like malls or parking lots ... Thieves then track the targeted vehicles to the victim’s residence, where they are stolen from the driveway.”

According to Apple, an AirTag will notify nearby unknown users while on the move, displaying a message on nearby iPhones which says “AirTag found moving with you”.

Apple AirTags can be disabled by those who don’t own the device, with the tech giant providing tips on how to do so here.